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The knocks on the hotel room doors started around 11 p.m. March 12, and what came next hit Julia Seidel and her Wausau Newman girls basketball teammates like a lightning bolt.

With their WIAA Division 5 state semifinal game against Black Hawk scheduled for 9 a.m. the next day at the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon, most of the Cardinals already had been asleep for a while when coach Paul Haag showed up with the news that the WIAA had shut down the rest of the tournament due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“After he told us, we all sat in silence and shock,” Seidel said. “Some of the girls went to the lobby area with each other to talk about it. I sat in my room with a couple of the girls for a bit to let it sink in and realize what that actually meant.

“Eventually, most of the seniors gathered to talk about it in the lobby. Overall, the reaction was one of pure shock. We were all half asleep still and kept hoping it was a bad dream we would wake up from. There was obviously a lot of disappointment and sadness in the room, but honestly, that night, there was so much shock that there wasn’t really much to say.”

Newman was at state for the third year in a row after winning the title in the South Division of the Marawood Conference. The Cardinals advanced with a 57-48 victory over previously unbeaten Oneida Nation in the sectional final.

“Obviously, the news was very upsetting, especially given the fact that we had just watched the first day of the tournament and we went to bed with the expectation of waking up to one of the biggest, if not the biggest, games of our careers, especially the seniors,” Seidel said. “I kept saying after we found out (that) I prepared myself to win, I prepared myself for the possibility of losing, but nothing could have prepared us for not even getting to play. It hurts even more knowing it was completely out of our control and knowing there was nothing we could have done to prevent the cancellation from happening.

“But that being said, we are very understanding of the bigger picture. The WIAA did everything in their power to allow us to play. They first tried limiting the fans to provide a safer environment for all involved. They televised the games and let the teams play as long as they felt it was safe. But with everything else going on at the time, and seeing what has happened since then, it was unfortunately probably the right decision to cancel the tournament and keep everyone safe.”

Seidel averaged 14.8 points and 5.1 rebounds this season and was named the Marawood-South player of the year. She also earned first-team all-state in Division 5 from the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association and honorable mention all-state from The Associated Press.

She knew the Cardinals faced a difficult challenge against No. 1 seed Black Hawk, which has won 54 consecutive games, but she said she felt good about the matchup. The Cardinals lost to Black Hawk in the state semifinals two years ago and lost to Clayton in last year’s semifinals.

“We’ve been here before, and it has been a great experience, no doubt, but to make it three times and never come away with a win at the tournament is hard to accept,” Seidel said. “We worked so hard to make it here, but we could never quite reach the final goal, a gold ball, so that is the hardest part to deal with. Fortunately, we were already in Green Bay when the tournament got canceled, so we got to make a few more memories and spend a few more days together for the last time as a team, which definitely helped take our minds off of it and not completely miss out on our last weekend together.”

Seidel, who will play basketball at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, was looking forward to the spring season and her final year of playing softball. Now, that season is in doubt as well.

“I hope and pray that we can possibly play a few games this spring. It will be my last high school sport I’ll ever get to play,” she said. “With basketball, while it hurt not playing again with my current team, I can at least have peace of mind knowing I’ll have four more years of playing the sport. But with softball, I don’t know when I’ll have another chance to play it competitively or with my great team.

“I just hope that all of us seniors around the country, who play any spring sport, get one more chance to play our final high school seasons and experience our well-deserved ‘lasts.’”

'We weren’t going to play with each other ever again'

Macy McGlone had led Hortonville to the WIAA D2 state semifinals, where the 25-1 Polar Bears were set to play Oregon on Friday afternoon.

Then came the WIAA’s decision that morning.

“I definitely think that everyone was a little sad and didn’t really feel like it was the end,” the senior post player said. “Some of us more than others, obviously as seniors, we were pretty upset it was the end and I know a lot of the younger girls were sad because we weren’t going to play with each other ever again.”

McGlone, who garnered second-team all-state Associated Press honors, is a 6-foot-3 UW-Milwaukee recruit. So she knows she’ll continue playing basketball. Just not with this team.

“We were definitely disappointed,” she said. “We weren’t even talking about winning and losing — we just didn’t get to have a final game together. We did (in the sectional final win) but we didn’t know it was.

“I think when we look back, we’re all happy with our season. We had a great time and a lot of fun. We had a really successful season, too.”

‘Yeah, this must be pretty serious.’

Remi Geiger was sitting in a Green Bay hotel room when she got the news.

It was late on the night of March 12, just 36 hours before the three-sport athlete from Loyal High School was set to participate in the 3-Point Challenge at the Resch Center during the WIAA girls state basketball tournament.

“We were all in our hotel room and my friend, an article came across her phone and she read it off,” Geiger said. “And everybody’s like, ‘Yeah, this must be pretty serious.’

“It was disappointing. I had all my friends down there with me. … Each day we kind of got something new, more information. At first it was that only one person could be in (the Resch Center) with me and I was like, ‘That’s still all right. I’ll still be able to shoot.’ But after that, knowing that I won’t be able to put my jersey on for the last time, it was pretty upsetting.”

Geiger was the player of the year in the Cloverbelt-East this season, earned first-team all-state in Division 5 from the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association and honorable-mention all-state from the Associated Press. She averaged 18.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

It was going to be the second year in a row for Geiger to compete in the 3-Point Challenge and while she was sad about not getting to do it again, she felt worse for the teams that didn’t get to finish their seasons or play for state titles.

“I can’t imagine the teams,” she said. “The 3-Point, that’s pretty cool. But the teams going down there, that’s a lot more heartbreaking.”

Geiger, also a volleyball and softball player at Loyal, has been chosen to play in the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Game in Wisconsin Dells on June 19.

She’s not planning to play sports in college, so she’s hoping the spring sports season can be salvaged and she can play softball with her friends, many of whom also play volleyball and basketball.

“It’s just an awesome feeling with our team camaraderie, which kind of follows into each and every sport,” she said. “So, yeah, it would be great being able to play with all my teammates again.”

'You can’t hang your head on that'

Samantha Pfefferle, a senior guard for New London, also was set to compete in the 3-Point Challenge.

“I had been training for a week and a half,” Pfefferle said. “When I heard that it was canceled, I was super disappointed because I just spent all this time practicing to win that plaque and now everything would be taken from all of us girls.

“It was unfortunate, but there’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t hang your head on that. You have to keep going.”

Pfefferle said she wasn’t expecting to earn one of the 10 Challenge spots.

“I was thrilled to be in it because I didn’t even think I was that good of a 3-point shooter to begin with,” she said. “I did have a couple of really good games shooting 3s and I was getting really good at it. It made me feel like I was in a one-in-a-million competition. I knew I was going against girls who were shooting at a percentage similar to me, so I knew the competition would be high.”

It wasn’t just Pfefferle who was let down by not being able to participate. Her family and friends were looking forward to it almost as much.

“I’ve had multiple complaints from my friends that wanted to go support me and they couldn’t,” she said. “It was like ‘OK, great. All of this for nothing.’ I wish they could just reschedule it or something.”

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Stratford's Ben Barten shoots against Auburndale in his last game before the cornoavirus pandemic shut down the basketball season.(Photo: Tork Mason/USA Today NETWORK-Wisconsin)

'A letdown'

The girls who were within hours of participating in the state basketball tournament weren’t the only ones who saw their winter seasons end prematurely.

Ben Barten’s future is on the football field at the University of Wisconsin, but he had dreams of spending a little time on the Badgers’ basketball court as well.

Barten and his Stratford teammates were one victory away from earning a trip to the WIAA Division 4 state boys basketball tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison when their season was shut down.

“I wouldn’t use the word frustrated,” Barten said. “Disappointing. A letdown. It’s one of those things you grow up talking about. ‘When I’m a senior. When I’m a senior.’ We got to that point, did everything we could, and it was in God’s hands to take it away. Not take it away, but he had other plans.”

Shortly after the Tigers had beaten Auburndale in a sectional semifinal, the WIAA announced that the winter sports season was over. Up next would have been a sectional final March 14 against Iola-Scandinavia, with the winner advancing to state.

Stratford has not been to state in boys basketball.

“I was talking to (head coach) Chad Weinfurter from Auburndale and he said that he liked our matchup with Iola,” Barten said, “and then I went home later that night and people were like, ‘Hold it, they might cancel the tournament.’ And I’m like, ‘Ah, that’s just another rumor going around.’ And then like 10 minutes later they pulled the plug.”

The decision effectively ended the high school career for Barten, who averaged 15 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in earning co-player of the year honors in the Marawood-South and making the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association all-state first team in Division 4.

Barten was the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Small School defensive player of the year last fall, earning first-team all-state honors on offense and defense. He helped lead the Tigers to the Division 5 state title game, and earned a scholarship to play football for the Badgers.

After talking with friend Tanor Bortolini of Kewaunee, who is also a UW football recruit, Barten had considered going out for track and field this spring. With that season in doubt, Barten said, “Honestly, it’s not really an option anymore.”

Barten, who said he lives about 7 miles from the high school, was working out at a local gym before the safer-at-home directive from Gov. Tony Evers. After the shutdown, he borrowed some equipment from that gym and is working out at home to get ready for college. He was scheduled to report to Madison on June 6 for summer workouts, but now that date is up in the air.

So now he prepares for an uncertain future, while wondering what could have been for the Stratford basketball team.

“To end without a loss is always a win, but for us it wasn’t,” he said. “It wasn’t something to get angry about. We did everything we could to get to where we were. Yeah, you feel let down. Sometimes it shows that hard work doesn’t always succeed. I felt like that was one of those moments this year. But this is such an unordinary circumstance.”

'I’m definitely upset about it'

College athletes felt the sting of seasons cut short as well.

UW-Oshkosh track and field senior Joe Vils was one spot shy of being an indoor All-American when he placed ninth in the pole vault at last year’s Division III Indoor Championships.

After his shot at redemption was canceled March 12, Vils called his parents and grandparents to tell them to turn around their cars headed to Wilmington, North Carolina, for the championships.

It took a week or so for the sting to go away.

Vils, his teammates and coaches still cleaned up and went to dinner that Thursday night one last time, appreciating the camaraderie and qualifying for nationals.

“I’m definitely upset about it, but at the same time I’ve worked my ass off, doing everything I could to put myself in the position I was already at,” said Vils, who twice has been an outdoor All-American. “I’m pretty happy with everything else I’ve done in the past four years in pole vaulting. I look at I guess all the memories I've been through and all the fun times with teammates and coaches. Friends and family, they’ve been supporting me.”

Division III track and field athletes were given an extra year eligibility for the 2021 spring outdoor season. Vils, an Oshkosh West graduate, needs only the 2020 fall semester to graduate, though, and doesn’t think it’s worth staying at Oshkosh another semester to run in the outdoor season.

His closure is in understanding track and field has always been a small part of his life in the big picture.